Modelling dynamic strains on ice shelves resulting from flexural and extensional motions forced by ocean wave packets

TL;DR

This paper models the transient response of ice shelves to ocean wave packets, considering both flexural and extensional waves, revealing their interaction's significance in predicting ice shelf strains.

Contribution

It introduces a model that includes extensional waves in ice shelf response analysis, enhancing understanding of wave-ice interactions beyond traditional flexural wave models.

Findings

Extensional and flexural waves interact during ice shelf response.

Coherent wave interactions generate maximum strains.

Including extensional waves improves response predictions.

Abstract

The transient response of an ice shelf to an incident wave packet from the open ocean is studied with a model that allows for extensional waves in the ice shelf, in addition to the standard flexural waves. Results are given for strains imposed on the ice shelf by the incident packet, over a range of peak periods in the swell regime and a range of packet widths. In spite of the large difference in speeds of the extensional and flexural waves, it is shown that there is generally an interval of time during which they interact, and the coherent phases of the interactions generate the greatest ice shelf strain magnitudes. The findings indicate that incorporating extensional waves into models is potentially important for predicting the response of Antarctic ice shelves to swell, in support of previous findings based on frequency-domain analysis.